Law of Attraction
by Kris6
Summary: Grace tries to hide her feelings for someone and it's not who you think. This is one of the longest chapters ever.
1. From the Top

Law of Attraction

Disclaimer: I own nothing. If I did, I wouldn't have to write about it.

Summary: Grace tries to hide her feelings for someone and it is not who you think.

Rating: PG or PG-13 at the most.

Spoilers: None really. I kind of made it up starting in the end of the first season.

A/N: This is in a very, very alternate universe. I know that this is an unusual pairing. I have never seen this pairing before and I just thought it would be interesting to try it out. Let me know if it works. 

A/N2: Okay, I've been debating putting this up for, like two months. I was afraid of getting maimed by putting it up. I've noticed that others have been posting fics with the same pairing so, I thought to myself 'Why the hell not?'. And so, this story is born. :)

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"90 miles outside Chicago/ Can't stop driving I don't know why/ So many questions I need an answer/ Two years later you're still on my mind/ Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart/ Who holds the stars up in the sky/ Is true love once in a lifetime/ Did the captain of the Titanic cry/ Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain/ Someday we'll know why the sky is blue/ Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you/ Does anybody know the way to Atlantis/ Or what the wind says when she cries/ I'm speeding by the place I met you/ For the 97th time tonight/ Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain/ Someday we'll know why the sky is blue/ Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you/ Someday we'll know why Samson loved Delilah/ One day I'll go dancing on the moon/ Someday you'll know that_ I was the one for you/ I bought a ticket to the end of the rainbow/ I watched the stars crash into the sea/ If I could ask god just one question/ Why aren't you here with me/ Someday we'll know if love can move a mountain/ Someday we'll know why the sky is blue/ Someday we'll know why I wasn't meant for you/ Someday we'll know why Samson loved Delilah/One day I'll go dancing on the moon/ Someday you'll know that I was the one for you"_

Two years. For two years, I've known her. For two years, I've loved her. And for two years, she hasn't loved me back. 

I was in love the moment I first set eyes on her. She was different from anyone I've ever met. She was strong and vulnerable all in one. Assertive and timid. One contradiction after another. A walking, talking enigma. And, I love that about her. 

You're probably thinking that all I feel toward her is complete and utter reverence. You would, of course, be right. I **do **worship the very ground she walks on and she doesn't even realize it. Despite what you may think, I also know her faults and insecurities. She trusts me. Me knowing all of her faults make her all the more endearing.

For the last two years, I have silently devoted my life to her. We've grown closer, but she doesn't love me. Not like I love her. All I can do is hope for her to feel the same.

You're probably wondering what she could have done to trigger my long term obsession for some girl. The truth is that she never really didanything. I saw her and I was attracted to her. We started talking and I liked her. But, when I started **listening **to her, I fell in love.

Like most stories, this one has a beginning. And I'll start where most of them usually do. The beginning, when we met. It only seems logical:

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Grace Manning. She grew up in Chicago and led a normal, boring life up until her freshman year of high school. 

Now, when she got to high school, she developed her first real crush. Eli Sammler. Captain of the basketball team and a Junior. For a short time that he didn't even know that she existed, but all that soon changed, when their parents, Rick and Lily, started dating. That complicated matters some.

She continued to pine after Eli during their parents odd courtship. That is, until she started to get to know him. The truth was that he was a few fries short of a Happy Meal. He wasn't a bad guy, he just wasn't the guy she though he was.

She was devastated by this and was miserable. The situation became even worse when her mother started talking about her boyfriend's other kid, Jessie. It seemed that all her mother did was gush about how "adorable" Jessie was. All the talk made Grace's sister, Zoe, completely fixated on how "cool" Jessie was. It made Grace nauseous hearing her mom call a thirteen year old girl be referred to as "adorable". She hated the girl already.

After months of dating, Lily and Rick decided that it was time for their offspring to finally meet. But since Zoe and I-er-Grace already knew Eli, it was pretty much so that they could meet Jessie. Anyways, this is where it gets interesting **and **where the story really gets started.

"Grace!" Lily screams at her oldest daughter. "Get down here. Rick and his kids just pulled up," she says as her daughter slumps down the steps. "You **will **be nice to Jessie. Do you understand?" She asks warningly.

"Yeah," Grace grunts begrudgingly while rolling her eyes. "From the way you describe her, she's perfect. How could I **not **be nice?" She asks condescendingly.

"Grace," Lily cautions, drawing out her daughter's name with a dark expression.

Grace moves and peeks out the window to see two figures walking up to the house. Closely looking at them, she can tell it's Rick and Eli, leaving Grace to wonder where Jessie is. Scanning the yard, she notices another figure lagging behind dejectedly, fearing for the worst. _Good._ Grace thinks, smirking at herself. _She should be worried. _

As Grace waits for them to enter, she begins thinking of ways to disconcert Jessie. She stands there, trying to think of ways to harass 'perfect Jessie'. She resolves to start small and just be rude. There's a knock on the door and Lily gets it.

"Hi Rick, Eli," Lily says cheerily, giving her boyfriend a hug. "Hi Jess," she says with a warm smile at the young girl, who smiles back.

"Hi! I'm Zoe and that's Grace," Zoe chirps to Jessie as she bounces in, seemingly appearing out of thin air. Jessie smiles in response.

Jessie turns to face Grace, who hasn't moved or spoken or blinked since Jessie walked in. "Hello," Jessie says softly as she gently brushes some of the hair out of her face. She averts her eyes, feeling nervous under Grace's intense scrutiny. 

"Uh, erm....hi," Grace answers, showing off her incredible verbal skills. "I'm Grace," she says, trying to recover, well, gracefully.

"I figured as much," Jessie smiles shyly, referring to Zoe's comment no more than thirty seconds ago. 

"When do we eat?" Eli asks, forever thinking of his stomach. Everyone else just rolls their eyes as they walk off into another room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Bye guys," Rick says as he walks toward the door.

"Yeah, bye. It was really good," Eli says as he begins to follow his father.

"Goodbye," Jessie says softly with a smile and a small wave.

"Yeah, bye," Grace says with unintentional malice. She cringes as Jessie's face takes on a dejected expression as she slowly walks out the door.

"So, Grace. What did you think of Jessie?" Lily asks with angry sarcasm once the door is closed. Zoe shares the same scornful expression.

"It just slipped out like that," Grace responds feebly. "I'm sorry," she mumbles.

"Could you at least **try **to be nice? What do you have against her anyways?" Lily asks curiously.

"Nothing. I just...I'll be nicer," Grace says. "I'm going to bed," she continues, running up the stairs. She throws herself on her bed and sighs deeply. _I couldn't very well tell my mom that I'm hot for her boyfriend's daughter._

"What's wrong with you?" Zoe asks as she walks into her sister's room.

"Nothing. Leave me alone," Grace mumbles from where her face is buried in the pillows. She looks up at Zoe. "What did **you **think of Jessie?" She asks.

"I liked her. I think she's cool and can't wait to see her again," Zoe grins as she bounces over to Grace's bed and flops down next to her. "What about you? Why don't you like her?" She asks, losing her goofy grin.

"I never said that I didn't like her. I just want to know what her deal is," Zoe gives her a strange expression. "I mean, how can anyone be so...perfect?" Grace asks with a semi-dreamy look on her face.

"What are you talking about?" Zoe tilts her head and looks at her sister in confusion.

"It's just that, she's perfect. She got a black belt in four years, she's skipping eighth grade and she's so damn modest about it all," she reasons, talking mostly to herself.

"I think it's cool," Zoe says, not really seeing the problem. "That doesn't explain why you acted so mean."

"I didn't do it on purpose. It's just...I don't know," she says, not wanting to go to far into it. "So, how long until we see them again?" She asks.

"I'm not really sure. Summer vacation started already, so I guess we'll be seeing them a lot," she guesses. "Plotting against her so soon?" She smirks.

"No, definitely not," Grace says as she stands up and walks across the room. "I'm going to go to bed," she says as she starts to change into her pajamas.

"Okay," Zoe says as she leaves.

Grace sighs as she flops down on her bed. _Oh boy. This is going to be fun. _She rolls her eyes and gets under the blankets.

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	2. SchoolHell

**__**

Two and a Half Months Later:

_It's okay Grace. It will all be okay._ Grace sighs as she looks up into the bathroom mirror. _Just get a grip. _She sighs again as she grabs her backpack and opens the door to go down stairs.

"Hey Grace. Are you looking forward to the first day of school?" Lily grins. "I bet you're really excited," she speculates enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, it's not like I'm a senior or anything," Grace shrugs. "At least I'm a sophomore now," she says, a look of disappointment briefly flashing over her face.

"Do you have any classes with Jessie?" Zoe asks with an elated expression.

"No. Why would I have classes with some freshman?" Grace retorts with a brief look of disappointment flashing across her face.

"Jessie is taking some advanced courses this year, she might very well be," Lily counters. 

"Yeah, well, it's not like we talk all the time. I don't know what classes she's taking and I don't know her schedule," Grace retorts as she goes to leave.

"Okay. Have nice day at least," Lily says after her.

_Grace paces around a moment before finally sitting on the Soliloquy Stool. She's looking down at her feet and takes a deep breath before looking up._

"The last two and a half months have been a living hell," Grace blurts out, barely above a whisper. "I admit, most of it is my fault. I mean, I've been avoiding poor Jessie like the plague. Whenever we do talk, I totally bitch-out on her," she pauses and looks off at a distance.

"She thinks I hate her. She hasn't said it, but I can tell that that's what she feels. I know she doesn't hate me. Jessie couldn't hate anyone," Grace looks forward again, this time with tears in her eyes. She looks up slightly and shakes her head.

"Grace, are you alright?" A girl asks and Grace turns to look at her with a confused expression on her face. "You didn't answer my question," the girl points out.

"Oh, I'm sorry. What was it?" She asks sheepishly.

"This blonde girl walked by and you looked at her kind of funny. I asked if you knew her," the other girl says while cocking her head.

"Oh, her. Yeah, I know her," Grace replies in a low voice. The girl looks at her with an expression urging her to continue. "It was Jessie, my mother's boyfriend's daughter," she continues slowly.

"Oh yeah. You told me about her. She's pretty," the girl adds the last part quietly as somewhat of an afterthought. "So anyways, were you planning on going to Homecoming or," she looks at her wistful friend staring off into space, "or were you planning on ignoring me?"

"Huh? What?" Grace asks, realizing her friend is staring at her. "What did you ask?"

"You've been flaking out all morning. I asked if you were going to Homecoming," she repeats.

"I am really sorry. I was just thinking about Jessie," she says simply, then catches the strange look on her friend's face. "I mean, Jessie thinks I hate her," she covers.

Her friend catches the softened look in Grace's face at the mention of Jessie. "Hmm. Well, if you don't hate her, then how do you feel about her?" She asks.

"I, um, well," at that moment, the bell rings and Grace's face brightens. "I have to go. I'll talk to you later. I have got to get to geometry. I've got Mr. Ellison. You know how anal that guy is," she says as she takes off down the hall like a bat out of hell. _Saved by the bell. _She smirks at her own pun.

Grace comes into the classroom with a huge grin on her face at being able to evade her friend's question. Upon entering the classroom, she notices that there are assigned seats and their are tags on the desks. She easily maneuvers herself into the desk with her name on it. She looks over at who is sitting around her, looking for any of her friends. The smile on her face couldn't have fallen off faster if she had been bitch-slapped, but she might as well have. She did a double take at the name next to her: Jessica Sammler.

Visibly sinking in her seat, Grace looks up with a miserable look. As if on cue, Jessie steps into the classroom, an already glum expression turning downright depressed. "Hi," Jessie says softly, offering a halfhearted smile as she sits in the desk next to Grace.

Grace sinks down further into her seat and smiles back. "Hi.," she returns. After a moment, she turns back to Jessie. "Good day so far?" She asks, sounding genuinely interested.

Jessie turns to her and stops to think a moment. Mostly gauging whether or not Grace really cares. "I've had better. You?" She asks.

"Same here," Grace says with a smile. Happy with actually being able to talk to her without unintentionally sneering. Grace goes to say something else to an attentive Jessie, but the bell rings and a short, stocky man enters the room. They fall silent as Mr. Ellison begins class.

**__**

One Week Later:

The bell rang, signaling the end of the school day. Students came pouring out of the building, flooding into the schoolyard, creating a sea of people. Grace steps out of the building, scouring the crowds for a certain someone, instead, she nearly plows into her. As Jessie nearly topples over, Grace instinctually sends her hand out to grab Jessie by the arm to prevent that.

"I'm sorry," Grace offers lamely. "I didn't see you," she says, sounding more like a question than an explanation.

"It's okay," Jessie smiles weakly, wanting to just get away. She stands there a moment, looking awkwardly at Grace and feeling odd with her hand still wrapped around her arm.

"Oh," Grace says, following Jessie's eyes down to Jessie's arm. She lets out a nervous laugh. "I'll see you tomorrow. Bye," she says as she spots her mom.

"Jessie!" Lily yells and Jessie's head turns toward the owner of the voice. "Your father called and asked me to pick you up," she explains as she walks up to the two girls.

"Oh," Jessie says simply. "Okay," he manages tensely as she pulls a death grip on the strap of her backpack.

"Great! Let's go," Lily beams as she looks obliviously between the two girls. 

_Grace is walking away from the Soliloquy Stool, running her hands nervously through her hair. "This truly bites," she grimaces. "Why couldn't Rick pick her up? This day just keeps getting better and better." She walks off._

Lily is sitting on the Stool with a huge grin on her face. "I am so glad Jessie and Grace are getting along better now," she sighs dreamily. 

__

"Do you guys want something to eat or drink or something?" Lily asks the girls with a smile.

_She should've been an airline hostess. _Jessie thinks with an imperceptible smirk. "No thank you. I'm fine," she answers softly, looking over at the computer.

"Can I have some Skittles?" Zoe chirps.

"Me too," Grace says distractedly as she notes the despondent and thoughtful expression on Jessie's face. "Are you all right?" She asks as soon as Lily has left.

Jessie looks up from her preoccupied state with a smile. "Yeah. I'm fine," she answers with a smile.

"Okay," Grace replies, not entirely convinced. She shrugs it off, thinking that Jessie is probably uncomfortable. She decides to try and lighten the mood. "I think the internet is evil," she states out of nowhere. This gets both girl's undivided attention. "I mean, think about it. It's like taking away out privacy and identity. I don't like it," she states, leaning back in her chair, folding her arms and thinking that neither of them could come up with a justifiable argument.

Jessie looks at Grace with a confused expression, trying to find any sense at all in the other girl's reasoning. Then, noting the smug look, she decides to challenge that. "I don't know. I kind of like e-mail," she shrugs.

Grace is taken aback and stares at Jessie a moment, weighting her words. Her position falls and she slumps in her chair. "Yeah. I guess e-mail's okay," she concedes, begrudgingly admitting defeat. Jessie tries to hide a victorious smirk. "Go ahead, rub it in," Grace consents, twirling her hand in the air dramatically.

"I'm not going to rub it in. As long as you're willing to admit you're a loser, there's no need for me drive the fact in," Jessie responds, patting Grace on the shoulder, her smirk fading into a soft smile.

Grace prays that Jessie can't hear her heart beat because she's positive that it would be deafening at this point. "I appreciate that," she says in as steady a voice as she can muster. Jessie smiles softly at her before turning back to the screen.

_Grace is sitting on her Stool with her head in her hands. "Why can't I be relocated to Siberia or Egypt or somewhere far away from Jessie?" She sighs heavily._

"But no. I have to suffer everyday. Looking in those eyes and hearing that sweet voice. Damn her. This is all her fault," she states. "If it's all her fault, then how come I can't hate her?" She groans.

"I really wish that I could retain the resentment I had toward her that I did before we met," she grunts.

"And did she **have **to look at me and smile at me with **that **smile and touch me the way she did? Why me?" She whimpers. 

_"I hope our parents break up soon so that I'll be able to see less of her everyday. That way, it'll be easier to get over feeling like this toward her." She shakes her head slowly. "This is stupid. The only thing I feel for her is respect or jealousy or something."_

"Bye Jess. See you tomorrow," Grace says as Jessie steps out of the car.

"Bye," Jessie says with a smile as she waves goodbye. Grace pretends that that wave was meant just for her and she lets a broad grin take over her face.


	3. Thanksgiving

Hey guys. I finally updated this story. I know that it took a lifetime and a half and I am really sorry. I had massive writer's block and I was got sick when I got over it. I plan on updating this one more regularly. I also plan to finish up "But Not Forgotten" soon. I'll try and get the next chapter up by the end of the week.

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"Why exactly is everyone coming here for Thanksgiving again?" Grace whines to her mother.

"Grace, we've been through this already," Lily responds with a sigh. "I invited them so that everyone will finally get a chance to meet," she finishes.

"But we already met Rick, Jessie and Eli. Who could possibly be left to meet?" She whimpers.

"His kids haven't met Lily yet. None of them have met my mother and we get to meet Rick's mother too," she says with a wistful smile.

"Can I go to Dad's?" Grace asks, not looking forward to another torture filled evening staring at Jessie and trying desperately to be discreet about it.

"Grace, at least try and like Jessie. I know you may find that incredibly difficult, but she is not that bad sweetie," Lily says while rubbing her temples, trying to block an impending migraine.

"Yeah, fine. Whatever," Grace mumbles as she walks off dejectedly.

_Grace sits back down on The Stool._

"'Why can't you just like Jessie?' She says," Grace sneers while mocking her mother. "I don't think that you'd appreciate exactly how much I like her." 

She shifts in her position and looks at her hands. "I know she's not bad. I don't think that Jessie could be bad if she tried," Grace sighs and looks back up. 

"Oh shit," Grace mumbles. "They're here," she whines as she looks out the window and sees Rick's minivan pull up.

"What's your problem Grace?" Zoe asks. 

"I don't have a problem. I just think that this is way too awkward," she says, trying to justify her strange behavior, earning a strange expression from her sister. "It's just strange getting to know all these new people. I don't know. It just feels weird."

"Grace, Zoe, come here," Lily instructs as she opens the door. "Hi," she says as a greeting to them all. "How are all of you?" She asks as she gives Rick a peck on the cheek.

"We're good," Rick says softly as he kisses her back.

"Nice to see you again Lily," Peg says as she hugs her. Barbara quirks an eyebrow at this. "Hi, I'm Peg, Rick's mother," she introduces herself.

"Nice to meet you," Barbara responds unenthusiastically.

Peg ignores her tone and turns her attention to Grace and Zoe. "Hello there," she says to them.

"Hi, I'm Zoe," she introduces herself. "This is my sister Grace," she says with a dark expression and Grace smiles faintly. "Hi Jessie," she says with excitement.

"Hi," Grace says awkwardly to Jessie, averting her eyes. Jessie smiles back equally uneasy, but for different reasons.

_Jessie sits on the floor with her knees pulled up to her chest and her thin arms wrapped around them. "Why couldn't I have just told Dad that I was sick?" She laments to herself. "I can't be here. Everything just feels so...off. I mean, Grace is just pretending to be nice. The look on Grace's face makes me want to crawl under a rock or something. It's unreadable and I have no idea why she's so uncomfortable around me," she sighs._

"I can't eat tonight. I mean, what are they going to think. They'll probably think about what a pig I am. I really should have stayed home tonight," she sighs.

_God, does she ever shut up? _Grace thinks as she glares at Zoe, who is talking everyone's ear off. She looks over at Jessie, who looks absolutely miserable as she pushes the food on her plate around. 

"Hey Dad," Eli begins, brining Grace back to reality as she sees Rick acknowledge his son. "Can I go, me and the guys were going to practice tonight?" He asks hopefully.

"No Eli, we're getting ready to have dessert, that would be rude," comes Rick's irritated response.

Eli whines, "But Dad-"

"Drop it E," Rick says agitatedly. Eli slumps into his seat and sits with a pissed off expression.

Grace looks back over at Jessie, who looks even more upset than before.

"_This night could not have gotten any worse," Grace states from the Soliloquy Stool. She sighs hard. "Poor Jessie. She looks so upset. I hope whatever's wrong with her turns out okay," she says sincerely with a far-off expression._

"It was nice seeing you again Jessie," Grace says as the Sammler clan prepares to leave.

Jessie smiles her first genuine smile that Grace has seen. "Yeah. You too Grace," she says as she leaves the house, leaving Grace with a stupid grin on her face.

Lily shuts the door and sighs. She smiles at Grace's expression. "What are you so happy about?" She asks.

"Nothing. I'm just glad that the night is finally over," Grace says, which is part of the truth.

"Right," Lily says, convinced that there's more to it, but sure that Grace won't elaborate anymore.

Grace practically floats to her room, still reeling from Jessie's attitude toward her at the end of the night. 

__

"She has such a beautiful smile. I wish she would do it more often," Grace says wistfully. "I can't even remember the last time I'd seen her smile, especially at me. What a feeling," she says, almost as if in awe.

"This is it," Grace says with resolve as she stomps her foot down. "I resolve from here on out to not be mean to Jessie. I will do everything I can just so that she will look at me like that again," she states with determination.

__

Rick walks into Jessie's room and sees her listening to her walkman. "Goodnight Jess," he says softly.

She turns around. "Goodnight Dad. I'll see you in the morning," she says with a faint smile. Jessie turns back around. 

Rick pauses in the doorway a moment. "Jess," he says to get her attention. She turns back around and takes the headphones off of her ears. "Are you feeling all right honey?" He asks.

"Yeah. I feel fine, why?" She asks suspiciously.

"Well, it's just that you haven't seemed to be very hungry lately," he says.

"I'm hungry all the time," she says slowly. _What_ _is he getting at? _She wonders.

"It's just that I get the feeling that you haven't been eating lately," he says and Jessie starts to play with her blanket unconsciously. "And sometimes we don't eat when we are upset with about something," he explains.

"I'm fine Dad. I **do **eat," she lies.

Rick nods his head as tears from behind his eyes. Jessie turns away, hiding tears of her own as she puts her headphones back on. "Jess," he says again.

"Huh?" She says as she turns around, her eyes reddening slightly.

"Never mind," he says as he walks out, closing the door behind him.


	4. Feast or Famine

A/N: Hey it's me again. I am back and, as you may have noticed, I updated But Not Forgotten as well. I'd sit here and explain, in detail, as to why I haven't updated, but I have the feeling that you would much rather read the story.

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"I am not going to go see a shrink!" Jessie enthuses to Karen, who is taken aback. She then gets up from the table and starts to walk off to her room.

"Jess, Leo says that he's really good though sweetie," she says in an effort to calm her daughter down as she follows her.

"You told him!" Jessie shouts as she stops dead in her tracks and turns around. "How can you tell him about a problem that doesn't exist?" She asks rhetorically.

"It does exist honey! Your father and I just want to help you. "We don't want to try and make it into a big deal though," she says, reaching out to hug her daughter.

Jessie shrugs her off and says, "It already is," before stalking up to her room leaving a crestfallen Karen at the foot of the stairs.

Jessie sits giving her bickering parents a petulant expression as they sit in the waiting room. Eventually the argument dies down after they realize what they are there for.

"So, Jess, have you given any though to inviting Grace and Zoe?" Rick asks.

"No, not really," she mutters lamely. He goes to say something else, but the doctor opens up the door and greets them. There is the traditional pleasantries and hand shaking.

"Is it all right if I speak with Jessie alone first?" Dr. Rosenfeld asks.

"Absolutely," Rick and Karen state simultaneously. Jessie groans and gets out of her seat and into his office. She sits down in a seat in front of, what she presumes to be, his chair.

He shuts the door and, without any preamble whatsoever, "So, you don't like to eat?" He asks, though it sounds more like a statement. Jessie rolls her eyes and tilts her head back

Grace is sitting in her last class of the day, staring at the clock every couple of seconds as if trying to will the hands to move faster. _Get a grip Manning! It's only soccer practice._ She chides herself before sneaking another glance at the clock. _Soccer practice that Jessie will be at. _She smiles with the though of her name. With one last glance, the bell rings and Grace makes her way to the girl's locker room to change. Once in there, she spots Jessie at her locker immediately and tries to hide her goofy grin.

"Hey," she says, trying to sound casual and hide her grin, though it looks more like a grimace.

"Hi," Jessie says softly before looking at Grace. She turns back to changing her clothes, but then turns back around. Suddenly, she appears to be more shy than usual. "Can I, um, ask you something?" Jessie asks.

Almost startled that Jessie is still talking to her, Grace turns towards her. "Uh, yeah," she says, feeling a faint glimmer of hope, but about what she isn't sure.

"I'm having a birthday party this Saturday and I wanted to know if you wanted to go," Jessie says, not making eye contact with Grace.

Grace's lips curl into a smile and she nods her head, but Jessie doesn't see because her eyes are downcast. "Yeah, sure. I mean, I don't know what I'm doing this Saturday, but it sounds cool," she says, then almost immediately regrets it. To avoid further embarrassment, she gets up and goes off to class. Jessie gives her a weak smile before it immediately falls…much in the same manner that Grace's heart fell into her stomach at seeing it. _Why can't my mouth be connected to my brain like a normal person?_ Grace wonders while shaking her head.

"Come on in," Dr. Rosenfeld says while ushering Karen, Rick and Jessie into his office. Jessie situates herself into the seat furthest from the doctor's and Rick and Karen are just in front. He closes the door and sits down. "So, would you mind filling out the picture of this clearly difficult and unattractive young person here?" He asks good-humoredly and Jessie smiles shyly from off in the corner.

"She's a straight A student," Karen says almost immediately. "And she's on the soccer team," she adds.

"She also has a black belt in Tae Kwon Do. She's the youngest one they've had there," Rick says. Both are obviously beaming with pride and Jessie sinks down in her seat, embarrassed. 

Rosenfeld turns to Jessie with a warm smile. "Parent Propaganda, don't believe a word of it," he says, getting a small smile from Jessie. "So," he says turning back to the defunct Sammlers, "we agree that Jessie is perfect," he says with a slight mocking tone. Jessie smirks again at her parent's discomfort.

"Grace, Jessie and Rick are here," Zoe says to her sister.

"Um, yeah. I'll be down in a minute," she says with a slight smile playing on her lips.

"Okay," Zoe says with a smile of her own as she goes downstairs. "Hey Jessie!" She exclaims with genuine excitement.

Jessie can't help but smile back. "Hey," she says softly.

"Hey, come on up and I'll show you my new CD," Zoe says with a smile as she takes Jessie's hand and leads her upstairs.

"Okay," Jessie says, as if she has a choice. 

Once into her room, Zoe closes the door after them and looks at Jessie. "You know, Grace doesn't really hate you," she says bluntly.

"What?" Jessie says, more than a little startled. 

"I said that Grace-" she begins slowly.

"I heard you," Jessie cuts her off. "I just don't believe it. Grace has a funny way of showing her non-hate towards me," she grumbles.

Zoe snickers. "You don't get it. Grace really **_likes _**you," she says with hard emphasis. "That's why she's all 'grrrr' when it come to anything related to you," she says with a grin.

"You have lost your mind," Jessie smirks.

"I think it's more Grace losing her mind," Zoe says with an impish grin. "She talks in her sleep," her grin gets more mischievous. "You want to know what she said last night?" She asks.

Jessie smirks. "I don't know, do I?" She asks. Zoe nods her head viciously. "Okay then."

"Grace said…"

Jessie and Zoe come down stairs. Zoe is wearing a huge grin as is Jessie. They see Grace talking to Rick and Jessie smirks. 

"Bye Grace," Jessie says with a smile.

"Bye Jessie," Grace says sincerely with confusion at Jessie's grin. She shakes it off as Rick and Jessie leave. She turns to her mom. "Is Jessie in therapy?" She asks in a low voice, not sure if her troll of a sister is around or not.

"Grace, honey, you didn't hear that," Lily pleads with her hands on her hips.

"Is she anorexic?" Grace asks with concern seeping through.

"Grace," Lily warns.

"What, it's not that big a deal?" She says shakily as some of the color drains from her face. "Most of the girls in our school are anyways," she says with a shrug.

"Honey, stop it," Lily repeats as if Grace is stabbing a small animal with a hot poker.

"Fine, we won't talk about it," Grace scoffs as she trudges upstairs. 

Zoe walks out of the kitchen, where she had been eavesdropping to find her mother getting ready to go upstairs as well. "What's going on?" She asks innocently.

"What did you hear?" Lily asks suspiciously.

"You and Grace arguing. I was just wondering what it was about this time," she says with a smile.

"Nothing that concerns you…or Grace for that matter," she says as she kisses her on the forehead. "Get to bed," she instructs with a smile.

"I'm going," Zoe says exasperated. _Jessie can't be anorexic…can she? _She thinks to herself as she passes Grace's room. "Night Grace," she says.

"Night," Grace replies.

"The oldest one does not like me," Jessie states indignantly with her arms folded.

"Stop saying that," Rick snipes and Jessie looks down at her lap, chastised.

Rosenfeld looks between the two of them before turning to Karen. "Are you dating anyone?" He asks.

Karen sits there with a torn expression. Jessie smirks. "Mom, Leo's your boyfriend," she says.

"Is it weird seeing your parents with other people?" Rosenfeld asks.

"Sometimes, but I…you get used to it," she says slowly, not looking at anyone or anything in particular.

Jessie is sitting in the bowling alley miserably as she slowly eats out of a bag of Cheetos. Karen comes up to her, griping. "Jessie, don't fill up too much on junk food, we're going to be getting pizza here soon," she says.

Jessie raises her eyebrow. "It's okay," she says to her mother with a small smile.

Karen takes the bag of chips from her. "Honey, it's wonderful to have a party, but you've got to take care of yourself also." Jessie resists the urge to roll her eyes.

Grace for her part, sits and watches in confusion and a little hostility. _It's better than her not eating anything. _She thinks bitterly to herself. Soon attention is diverted away from Jessie, much to her relief. Grace sees Leo and Karen goofing around some with the Camcorder and she smiles. She then looks at Jessie, who is nervously biting one of her fingernails.

Jessie watches as Grace gets up from her seat and goes up for her turn to bowl. She watches Grace sink a gutter-ball…twice and she smiles.

Grace comes back with a disturbed expression, but upon noticing Jessie notice her, she smiles. "Isn't it bizarre how parents get off on planning birthday parties she says as she sits down behind her?"

Jessie smirks. "That obvious, huh?" She says rhetorically. "Mom likes to pretty much plan out everyone's life, though."

"I think growing up is overrated anyways," Grace admits.

"Yeah, but at least when you're grown up you can make your own decisions," Jessie reasons.

Grace pauses a moment, but then continues. "I think parents only want you to grow up in the boring ways, like school and stuff. But in the cool ways, like being independent, they want you to stay young," she says.

"That's definitely my mom," Jessie says with emphasis.

"Well, I guess that stuff is hard to figure out," she replies.

"What do you mean?" Jessie asks with confusion.

"Nothing. I just guess it's hard for anybody to talk about that stuff." She pauses. "I know it would be hard for me," she says, now suddenly wishing that she quit while she was ahead.

"To talk about?" Jessie urges with a sudden feeling of her heart jumping into her throat.

"To talk about with somebody," Grace says lamely.

"It's my turn to bowl," Jessie says shakily after a minute, leaving Grace to look for a hole to crawl into and die in.

Lily shows up, ready to pick up the girls. She and Karen share a few forced pleasantries before she rounds up her two kids. "Happy birthday Jessie," Lily and Zoe say.

"Happy birthday Jess," Grace says slowly, lingering for only a second before she follows out her mom and sister.

After a minute, Jessie whips around to glare at Rick. "Who else did you tell?" She demands.

"Tell what?" He asks, suddenly nervous and frightened of his 14 year old daughter.

"Do you have to tell the whole world that I'm crazy?" She asks tearfully.

"What are you talking about?" He asks lamely, nearly shrinking in his seat.

"You know what I'm talking about!" She shouts at a, now, very frightened Rick.

"I told Lily," he admits quietly. "But I didn't think she would tell Grace."

"Rick!" Karen admonishes.

"Like that makes it any better," Jessie snipes as she turns and walks off.

Rick and Karen get up to follow her. "Jessie it isn't necessarily a bad thing. At least you'll have someone else to talk to about it now," he says stupidly.

"Because Grace and I have bonded so well," Jessie says sarcastically.

"I don't think Grace would tell anyone," Karen says, coming to Rick's aid.

"Yeah right. Everyone at school probably knows by now," she grumbles as she leaves.

"Okay, so everybody knows," Rosenfeld says slowly.

Jessie, chewing on her pinky finger says, "And it's really bad."

"Especially if you're fourteen," he says smartly. "You probably can't stand the prospect of going back to school and facing all those people lined up to laugh at you," he says not so smartly.

Jessie snaps. "It's not funny. It's bad enough having to see all those people as it is," she says with distress.

Grace sits down at the bench behind Jessie's in the locker room. "I'm sorry about the other day," she says as she sits down. "Rick and my mom were talking and they didn't know I was there."

Jessie turns to face her, trying to gauge Grace's sincerity. "It doesn't matter," she says, more to herself.

Grace takes in a deep breath. "No, you know what?" Grace asks rhetorically. "It's just here's the thing okay? If I were you, I would be embarrassed too if people knew I was seeing somebody. But there are a lot of times that I think it maybe it wouldn't be so terrible,"she pauses and sees a confused expression on Jessie's face. "I mean, all the things I go through in my mind, like--" _how I feel about you_,she thinks with a far off expression before catching herself. "What I'm trying to say is sometimes I sort of wish that I could see somebody too," she admits.

"Really?" Jessie asks with a small smile.

Grace grins. "Yeah. That's all that I was trying to say the other day," she says as he gets up. She sees the smile and relief on Jessie's face and smiles. _I finally said something right. _

"Good day honey?" Lily asks as Grace walks through the door with a huge grin on her face.

"Yeah, it was okay," Grace says as she tries to hide her happiness.

"What has you in such a good mood?" Lily asks suspiciously.

"Nothing," Grace evades. "I just didn't have homework so I am free for the night," she lies.

Lily smirks, knowing her oldest is hiding something. "Is it a boy?" She asks with a mischievous smirk.

"No, it is not a boy," Grace scoffs.

_Yeah right. _Lily grins and Grace narrows her eyes. "I believe you sweetie. Go get ready for dinner," she instructs.

"It's not a boy," she pouts before stomping upstairs.

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Next one won't take as long. This episode was just so long and I took forever writing it.


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